Pages

Bakuman – Chapter 152: Synergy Effect and a New Record

This chapter went on like in a
breeze. First thing I know Ashirogi-sensei’s and Niizuma-sensei’s names were
submitted, the next thing is Niizuma-sensei’s results have reached an
overwhelming record not even Ashirogi-sensei is confident in over taking.

Reversi:

Ashirogi-sensei’s new piece is
titled Reversi. From the sound of it,
it gives off the familiar game we also know as Othello which is a strategic
board game that involves changing your opponent’s pieces to the color of yours
(either white or black) to win. The player whose piece dominated the board wins
the game. It’s a simple yet challenging game.

With what I just stated, it’s
quite obvious as to why Ashirogi-sensei named their new piece Reversi. Recall from the previous
chapter that Mashiro-kun and Takagi-kun were saying that there will be two
protagonists and their goal is to destroy the world while having entirely
different ways of doing so. Their ability is to brainwash their victims.
Connect the dots and what will you have? To spell it out, as Mashiro mentioned
in the previous chapter, “to be exact, he (the white guy) re-brainwashes the people
who have been brainwashed by the black demon to return them to their normal
state.” Get the idea?

Zombie☆Gun:

Recall that Niizume-sensei’s new
manga includes a zombie protagonist (Given the title. DUH!) with romance and an
idea that he (the protagonist) isn’t entirely zombie (or so I think). I’d say
that it is a pretty shounen idea given that it’s Niizuma-sensei. With his idea,
I couldn’t say that I don’t like it rather it’s not entirely my type of story.

The Editorial Department’s Issue:

The idea that came through in
Ashirogi-sensei’s and Niizuma-sensei’s new works is how much they have all
improved not only in their specialty but on how they have integrate things that
they couldn’t master before and turn them into the material they are really
good at. As for Ashirogi-sensei, Takagi together with Mashiro, they were able
to come up with a manga that still have the Ashirogi-non-mainstream-concept
with an additional mainstream battle. As for Niizuma-sensei, he made a
mainstream manga with additional non-mainstream elements.

Azuki’s back?

In the last arc, we remember that
Mashiro mailed Miho a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. Many fans became
happy just seeing Miho back in the pages. But then, who knows how long this
will last? This chapter has given Miho another page in the manga telling that
she has gotten a heroine role. Will this be given a separate arc in the future?
I wonder about that.

692 Votes:

As expected from Niizuma-sensei,
he was able to pull off a 692 votes for a one-shot. With this difficult to beat
number of votes, Mashiro-kun looks more fired up than usual. He said, “of
course I don’t think we’re going to surpass him. But I wonder, why not?” –
makes me wonder. Will Ashirogi-sensei be able to beat Niizuma-sensei’s
outstanding result? Or is this some attempt to make us all think that
Ashirogi-sensei could possibly over take Niizuma-sensei?

Bakuman’s ending:

I’ve read in some forums that
from this arc, it seems that Mashiro-kun and Takagi-kun is close to achieving
their goal of getting an anime. Some people are speculating that this could
mark the end of Bakuman. I’d say that this arc doesn’t entirely guarantee that
Ashirogi-sensei could actually serialize their work despite their improved
abilities. Plus, even though they are able to serialize Reversi, who know if they can keep drawing two manga at the same
time? Also, an anime is a long way to go. It takes around 2 or 3 years of
serialization. Ashirogi-sensei could still encounter a lot of problems along
the way. There could also be the possibility that Reversi is not their piece that will be turned into anime. Who
cares if Miho gets a heroine role? That doesn't mean that Ashirogi-sensei also
gets an anime now.

I certainly can't wait for next week as well.

P.S. the writing style of this post is somehow different from my previous ones 'cause I'm trying to experiment on random writing styles.